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So, I recently hit the 50+ age bracket, and got laid off by VMware back in November. I got a BSCS in 1989, and my first job after graduation was for the Defens

So, I recently hit the 50+ age bracket, and got laid off by VMware back in November. I got a BSCS in 1989, and my first job after graduation was for the Defense Communications Agency in the basement of the Pentagon. I've worked for AOL (years before Gene Kim got there), and I've consulted for Apple, Raytheon, AT&T, and a wide variety of other companies. I was literally doing DevOps many years before that term was coined. Since the layoff, I've been able to scrape together a few phone interviews, but I find that it is damn hard to get a second interview -- anywhere. It's not just hard to get into this line of work at this age, it's also hard to get another job in this line of work when you have already been working in this industry for over 25 years. The last time I was interviewing, one recruiter said to me that they were looking for someone who was just exactly like me -- but just five to ten years younger -- and asked me if I knew of anyone who was looking. I don't see how you can have as much experience as I did at this time, if you didn't start playing with computers back in 1982.

someone01 9y ago
Well, I am sorry for your predicament. I wonder, is it the recruiter doing the age screening on their own or is it coming from above?
muninn_ 9y ago
What location and who are you interviewing with? Also, maybe you're applying for the wrong job titles?
j_s 9y ago
Are you able to relocate? You should apply to work at YC almost as a sabbatical. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14372192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14372192
le-mark 9y ago
This seems curious to me, here in the midwest, it's pretty common for non software companies with shit legacy apps to desperately hire anyone with experience. These companies find it impossible to keep developers, no one wants to work at them. I'm at one now, making the highest salary of my career thus far. I'm not quiet 50.
- mcguire 9y ago
  Similar situation for places with government contracting. Check out Huntsville, AL, for example.
- jpindar 9y ago
  Do they do remote?
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    A random Midwest non-software company with a line of business legacy app that they want to keep limping along is unlikely to even know how to answer "do you do remote?" They have a business problem they need solved, and that almost surely means "come in, walk around, talk to people, and figure it out".
- bradknowles 9y ago
  There are limits to what I am willing to do. For example, I don't do Windows. There are also limits to what I am capable of doing. I like to think I'm pretty good at the Ops side of the house, and I'm more than happy to work with Devs as part of a larger team, but I am not a Programmer or Developer. I can hack on code to a degree, but I simply do not have the capacity to develop code from scratch. My wife and I have lived in Austin since 2006, and we are not willing to relocate in order for me to get a job. Since she is an international business lawyer who has always made at least twice what I have ever made (even comparing her worst year to my best), it just doesn't make financial sense for us to move. So, I'm limited to jobs I can get here in Austin, or to work remotely. Austin being the town it is, there are lots of startups here, but they want devs and not ops. Or they want devs who can do everything. There's also a number of big enterprise companies here, but of course they want Windows. The University isn't an option because I found out the hard way that they are the biggest flying Mongolian clusterfuck in town. Sigh....
  - le-mark 9y ago
    > but I find that it is damn hard to get a second interview -- anywhere. So your original comment was a bit disingenuous, you have a lot of conditions to where you'll work, but you then you also tried to use the "age discrimination in tech" narrative to garner sympathy (so I suppose). If there is age discrimination in tech (which I don't see myself, I see the opposite), then commentary like your original post don't help.
nxc18 9y ago
That last bit sounds like textbook age discrimination; if you have that on any sort of record, or even if you don't, I would consider challenging it - not just for yourself, but for all the other 50+ job seekers out there. Full disclosure: I (as does almost everyone else here) have a stake in this as I will likely someday be a 50+ employee or job seeker. P.s. I'm going to stop writing this, but the more I think about what you wrote the more infuriated I get. What the * is wrong with that recruiter? At the least they should be fired for expressing that thought, but they should also suffer in some way for having that thought. They have no business considering your age at all, especially with 50 being decade(s) below retirement age.

someone01 9y ago

Well, I am sorry for your predicament. I wonder, is it the recruiter doing the age screening on their own or is it coming from above?

muninn_ 9y ago

What location and who are you interviewing with? Also, maybe you're applying for the wrong job titles?

j_s 9y ago

Are you able to relocate? You should apply to work at YC almost as a sabbatical. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14372192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14372192

le-mark 9y ago

This seems curious to me, here in the midwest, it's pretty common for non software companies with shit legacy apps to desperately hire anyone with experience. These companies find it impossible to keep developers, no one wants to work at them. I'm at one now, making the highest salary of my career thus far. I'm not quiet 50.

mcguire 9y ago
Similar situation for places with government contracting. Check out Huntsville, AL, for example.
jpindar 9y ago
Do they do remote?
- sokoloff 9y ago
  A random Midwest non-software company with a line of business legacy app that they want to keep limping along is unlikely to even know how to answer "do you do remote?" They have a business problem they need solved, and that almost surely means "come in, walk around, talk to people, and figure it out".
bradknowles 9y ago
There are limits to what I am willing to do. For example, I don't do Windows. There are also limits to what I am capable of doing. I like to think I'm pretty good at the Ops side of the house, and I'm more than happy to work with Devs as part of a larger team, but I am not a Programmer or Developer. I can hack on code to a degree, but I simply do not have the capacity to develop code from scratch. My wife and I have lived in Austin since 2006, and we are not willing to relocate in order for me to get a job. Since she is an international business lawyer who has always made at least twice what I have ever made (even comparing her worst year to my best), it just doesn't make financial sense for us to move. So, I'm limited to jobs I can get here in Austin, or to work remotely. Austin being the town it is, there are lots of startups here, but they want devs and not ops. Or they want devs who can do everything. There's also a number of big enterprise companies here, but of course they want Windows. The University isn't an option because I found out the hard way that they are the biggest flying Mongolian clusterfuck in town. Sigh....
- le-mark 9y ago
  > but I find that it is damn hard to get a second interview -- anywhere. So your original comment was a bit disingenuous, you have a lot of conditions to where you'll work, but you then you also tried to use the "age discrimination in tech" narrative to garner sympathy (so I suppose). If there is age discrimination in tech (which I don't see myself, I see the opposite), then commentary like your original post don't help.

nxc18 9y ago

That last bit sounds like textbook age discrimination; if you have that on any sort of record, or even if you don't, I would consider challenging it - not just for yourself, but for all the other 50+ job seekers out there. Full disclosure: I (as does almost everyone else here) have a stake in this as I will likely someday be a 50+ employee or job seeker. P.s. I'm going to stop writing this, but the more I think about what you wrote the more infuriated I get. What the * is wrong with that recruiter? At the least they should be fired for expressing that thought, but they should also suffer in some way for having that thought. They have no business considering your age at all, especially with 50 being decade(s) below retirement age.